Reinforcement for a container



Sept. 11, 1956 w. J. GOETTSCH ETAL REINFORCEMENT FOR A CONTAINER Filed Dec. 31, 1952 FIG-.3.

United States Patent REINFORCEMENT FOR A CONTAINER Walter J. Goettsch, Kenilworth, 111., and Walter C.

George, St. Louis, Mo., assignors, by mesne assignments, to "Crown Zellerbach Corporation, San Francisco, Calif a corporation of Nevada Application December 31, 1952, Serial No. 328,982

'1 Claim. (Cl. 229-14) This invention appertains to inserts for containers and more particularly to a reinforcing insert for containers made of solid fibre'board, corrugated fibreboard, or any other suitable material.

When receptacles made of fibreb-oard or similar material are used to store relatively heavy perishable articles, such as fruits and vegetables, it has heretofore been necessary to provide containers of relatively heavy material in order to prevent failure and bulging of the container side walls. This is especially true when containers are stacked one upon another. Fabricating the entire container of extra heavy material is an expensive and inefiicient expedient, since it requires that the tops and bottoms are necessarily strengthened to, a point beyond the actual requirements. That is especially true in the most common type of container for this purpose, the-reg ular slottedcarton, since-this container provides double thickness top and bottom closures.

' The suggestion of merely adding a regular upstanding liner of similar inner member has not been the answer to the problem because of the extra expense involved in reinforcing v.the entire inner surface of the 'contai-r'ier. The problem, therefore, has been to provide an inexpensive reinforcing means which would effectively prevent bulging of the side walls and at the same time reinforce the. walls for added stacking or vertical strength. It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide, in a container for carrying relatively heavy objects, an inexpensive inner reinforcing member which will resist bulging of the side walls as well as provide added stacking strength.

A further object of this invention is to provide a container reinforcement of considerably less area than the upstanding side walls of the container.

Another object of this invention is to provide an inner reinforcement for a container of a design which permits more than one of the reinforcing members to be made for a single blank of material without any waste whatsoever.

A still further object is to provide an inner reinforcement for a container which may be used without stitching or gluing.

Another object is to provide a reinforcing insert which occupies a minimum of space and which is free of inwardly projecting edges which might damage the contents carried.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a further reading of the following description.

This invention comprises a reinforcing insert for a container having upright side walls, the reinforcing insert combining foldably connected upright sides in substantially flatwise position against the inner face of the container side walls, alternating portions of the insert sides extending the full height of the side walls of the container.

The invention also consists in the parts and in the arrangements and combination of par-ts hereinafter de- ICC Fig. 2 is a plan view of a blankproviding a preferred form of the reinforcing insert of this invention; The blank is shown with a pair of interlocking, reinforcing members formed therefrom.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an erected insert embodying a preferred form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a container having a reinforcing insert embodying a preferred form of the invention. A corner of the container is shown cut away to show the position of the insert inside the container.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an erected insert embodying a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an erected insert employing a still further embodiment of the invention.

The body A of the container which is shown in blank form in Fig. 1 is provided with transverse scores 11 which define the ends of body side walls 12. Top and bottom closure flaps 13 are foldably connected along the transverse scores 11. Slots 14 which are substantially colinear with adjacent vertical scores 15, define the side edges of the closure fiaps 13.

A preferred form of a reinforcing insert, which is shown in Fig. 2, is provided with upright scores 16 which define the vertical side margins of reinforcing panels '17. Each reinforcing panel 17 is provided with a vertical extension 18. Except for the two endmost extensions 18, all of the other end extensions have vertical side boundaries vertically defined by continuations of the upright scores 16. The extensions 18 on any given panel 17 are spaced apart as at 1?. 1n the preferred embodiment of the reinforcing insert illustrated in Fig. 2, the' distance from the top edge of the extension 18 to the base of the reinforcing panel 17 is substantially equal to the height of the side walls 12 of the body member A.

v This invention has the special advantage of providing an insert which affords great savings in material. instance, when the blanks of the reinforcing members are arranged in interlocking fashion as shown in Fig. 2, it is possible to provide the reinforcing members without any waste whatsoever. As will be noted from the illustration in Fig. 2, the blanks are dimensioned and arranged so that the extension 18 of one fits into the space 19 of the opposing insert. It is apparent that still other forms of the insert of this invention readily admit of fabrication from a single blank without waste. Examples of other forms so adapted are shown in Fig. and Fig. 6.

In order to erect the container body A, it is necessary to fold the body side walls 12 into right angular relation with each other along the vertical score 15 in order to form the body side walls into an enclosed rectangular form. In this position, the free abutting vertical side edges 20 are taped, glued, or otherwise secured together. The position of the tape in the erected container is shown at 21 in Fig. 4. The bottom closure flaps are then folded inwardly into substantially right angular relation with their body side walls 12. In this position the bottom closure flaps are sealed together by any suitable means such as glue or stitches. The container body A is now in condition to receive the reinforcing insert B.

The reinforcing insert may be erected by folding the reinforcing panels and their extensions 18 along the upright scores 16 into right angular relation to form an enclosure of substantially rectangular shape. The erected reinforcing insert B is then inserted into the partially.

For

erected container body A until the bottom edges of the reinforcing panels are-in edgewise abutting relation-with the inner faces of the previously positioned bottom closure flaps 13. In this position, the reinforcing panels 17 and the extensions v18 f the'rei-nforcing insert willbe in snugly contacting relation with the inner faces of the body side walls 12. In the preferred embodiment, the top edge of the extensions 18 will-be closely adjacent the upper edge of the body .side walls 12. Thecontainer is now ready to be loaded.

After the container is loaded, the top closure flaps 13 are folded inward'ly'into right angular relation'with their adjacent bodysidewalls 1'2 and sealed. 'In the preferred form, described, the underface of the-t-op-closure flaps 1'3 is-in normal-contacting engagement with thetop edge of the reinforcing extension 18.

:Withthe reinforcing insert Bin position, the contents of thecontainer do not'tend to force the lower portions of thebottom sidewalls 12 outwardly where the tendency is thegreatest. Furthermore, with thecontainers staclged one upon the other, the integral vertical extensions 18 provide stacking reinforcement which prevents failure of the side walls. This reinforcing action'is provided with a minimum amount of material.

Of course, the reinforcing insert described may be used in any container having upright side walls. For instance, it might be desired to provide interior reinforcing for an toctagonal container, the reinforcing insert couldr-be modified to provide eight reinforcing panels 17 each with theextensions '18. Furthermore, the reinforcing insert B maybe modified and still'fall within the intended limits of this invention. For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the reinforcing panels 17 may be provided with triangularly shaped extensions 18a. A still further modification is shown in Fig. 6 wherein only alternating reinforcing panels 17 are provided with extensions 18.

his thus apparent that the insert of this invention provides a secured reinforcement for the upstanding side walls ofa container for heavy articles. This containerreinfor-cement affords the extra strength only where it is needed, therebyeifecting the most effective use of the reinforcing material. Not only is bulging of the lower portion of the container-side walls obviated, but substantial vertical stacking strength is added. This reinforcing and strengthening is provided with absolutely no waste of material.

susceptible of embodiment in other modified for-m's,--artdthat all such modifications which are similar or equiva lent hereto come equally within the scope of the claim next appearing.

What we claim is:

A rectangularly shaped paperboard shipping container having ,connected together body walls andzfbottom and top closure means, a one-piece paperboard rigid sleevelike reinforcing insert slid-ably positioned-inthe container, the insert being generally rectangularly shaped and formed from connected together panels, each panel jof the sleeve insert having substantially the same dimension as theeorresponding walls ofrthe .contairrenrtheupper portion of each panel havinga rectangular notch extending downwardly to at least half the'height of the insert, the notches being of a width substantially half the width of its panel, thus defining upstanding right angular extensions extending from the marginal portions of the corner formations of the-lower portion of the'insert and which extensions are in contacting relationship with the inner adjacent upper marginal corner portions of the body'walls, the extensions terminating'at the top corner edges of the body walls and in abutting relationship withadjacent inner surfaces of the top closure means, whereby the'conta-iner is interiorly reinforced throughout to withstand vertically applied forces such as encountered when the containers are stacked, as well as to minimize lateral distention of the body walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 5,115,721 Schmidt 'Feb. 27, I894 19,87,958 iClennyet a1. Mar. 28, 1911 1,916,493 Solomon July 4, I933 12,017,608 Smith Oct. 15, 1935 2,048,729 :Daller July 28, 1936 32,097,690 Ferngren Nov. '2, 1937 2,454,456 Irwin Nov. '23, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 429,241 Great Britain May 27, 1935 664,948 Great 'Britain Jan. 16, I952 

